Tens of thousands of words were written about the trial of Marino Vinicio Castillo. Castillo was being sued by former Mejia official and current senator Hernani Salazar for defamation of character. Eighteen witnesses testified on everything from helicopters to airfields and multiuse buildings. Judge Esther Agelan Casasnovas ruled that they contributed little to the process. Castillo was cleared of all criminal charges and condemned to pay the RR$1 million court expenses. He and his team of lawyers said that they would appeal. However, as of late last night no appeal had been filed with the courts. The Castillo party has three days to appeal.
The judge said that none of the plaintiff’s witnesses “cleared up anything in this case.” As for the witnesses that were called by the defendant, the judge said that the testimony she heard “did not demonstrate any relationship between Hernani Salazar and Bladimir Garcia.” The judge also pointed out that even though “in the statements made by Rafael Francisco Guevara, the defense alleges that these statements demonstrated Salazar’s intervention in the awarding of the multiuse contracts to the Elite consortium (that belonged to Bladimir Garcia), the witness statements do not constitute a probative element sufficient to give credence to this event since the statements establish that the intervention was through a contact with a daughter of the present Finance Minister Vicente Bengoa.
The judge admitted that Baldimir Garcia and Quirino Paulino Castillo are on trial in the United States, but that in her view, the fact that Bladimir is known to be a friend of Quirino, does not necessarily prove there is any relationship between Salazar and Quirino. For that reason she said: “The relationship between Paulino Castillo and the plaintiff is not an object of controversy here. For that reason, none of the evidence related to the acquisition and sale of a helicopter by Salazar from Quirino Paulino Castillo is relevant to this case.”